Book 3: Chapter 8 (8/9)

While defending himself against those powerful evil spirits, Kimaris thought, “These evil spirits aren't weak. Their attacks are mixed of all types. There were axes, swords, knives, blades, spears, even magic such as [Fireball], [Ice Spear], [Thunder Strike], and [Wind Strike].” Quickly scanning Lucas, Kimaris continued to think to himself, "He hasn't used his swords yet. The dark energy auras released from both of his holstered swords gave me the chill. I couldn't imagine what would happen if he started using those swords to attack."

Kimaris knew Lucas was on an entirely different level compared to all enemies that he had fought in the past. Kimaris transformed into his Demon Form and summoned Ursula as his weapon, replacing the fire gauntlets. Kimaris then swung Ursula around, pushing the evil spirits back from surrounding him while planning for an escape strategy. Kimaris was always confident in himself, but he knew Lucas wasn't the type of opponent he could easily defeat. Even having Ursula transformed into her human form, the chance of winning against Lucas was not high. Dying isn't something scary because Kimaris would just be transported back to the Hell Realm. But if Kimaris dies, it would be much harder for Kain to defeat Noe Clerico. Even though Kimaris wasn't sure how strong he was compared to Lucas, he knew for sure that he was much stronger compared to some of Noe's other minions.

Kimaris turned and saw Devil-Kain have killed the Devil Warrior and the Devil Mage several times but they kept on reviving themselves instantly using [Reanimate], the Necromancy Magic spell that allows minions to instantly revive themselves using their Necromancer's mana pool.

Swung Ursula ten more times to kill over two hundred evil spirits while pushing back the remaining evil spirits that kept on surrounding him, Kimaris thought to himself, “Even if I can kill this Summoner Warrior, he can just revive himself just like the Devils that Kain is fighting. I needed to get away from this guy and let my army keep him busy while I focused on helping Kain defeat Noe Clerico. It is pointless to try to kill his minions because they can resurrect themselves. The best way to defeat them is by killing their Necromancer.”

Thinking so, Kimaris shouted, “Akonod!”

Akonod, one of the Demon Generals that lead the Demon Army of the Thirteenth Gate. Akonod was instructing his army to fight with the evil spirits. Hearing Kimaris called for him, Akonod led two thousand flying demons and flew toward the area where Kimaris and Lucas were fighting. Akonod angrily swung his fiery greatsword on ten of the evil spirits that were about to strike Kimaris, killing them instantly. Those evil spirits were spawned back at Lucas’s location and immediately flew toward Akonod to take revenge against him.

Kimaris pointed at Lucas and said, “Akonod, I needed you to keep him busy while I’m gone.”

Akonod humbly answered, “Leave him to me, my Lord.”

Carrying Ursula, Kimaris flew away from Lucas’s location and headed toward Kain who was busy fighting with Yrsut, David, Agnes, Conrad, and Lysander.

Seeing Kimaris flew away, Lucas shook his head and said, "Trash."

On the other side of the battlefield. A dark aura spread out two hundred thousand square feet from Stefano Auregli and quickly surrounded at least a thousand demons. Not even ten seconds later, those a thousand demons were killed as they screamed out loud signaling for their Demon Lord to be aware. Sizouze casted five [Exploding Fireball] spells toward the dark aura and heard five loud explosions but it seems like nothing changed as the dark aura continued advancing toward her direction. A minute later, another ten thousand demons of the First Gate were killed and Sizouze couldn’t stand idly by anymore. She withdrew her fiery greatsword and flew into the dark aura to investigate.

As soon as Sizouze landed on the ground, she could feel hundreds of weapons were attacking her in an instant. Sizouze casted [Firestorm] spell and created a flame tornado with a radius of two thousand square feet surrounding her. Because Sizouze already activated the [Fire Domain] spell, the [Firestorm] spell didn’t damage her but protected her from the [Living Shadows] generated by Stefano.

Sizouze then sprinted toward the direction where she saw an Alligator-kin Warrior staring at her while asking out loud, “Are you the Dark Knight that created this dark aura?”

Instead of answering Sizouze, Stefano only smirked and stood idly allowing Sizouze to come closer toward him. Sizouze was still being protected by her [Firestorm] spell and no [Living Shadows] could have come within two thousand square feet of her location. Gotten closer to Stefano, Sizouze casted [Incinerate] spell then struck her fiery greatsword into his heart then casted another [Incinerate] spell to kill Stefano by exploding his body and burning it into nothingness. Thinking this was over, Sizouze flew upward and commanded her army to continue advancing.

“Hmm? The dark aura didn’t disappear.” Sizouze thought to herself.

Stefano revived himself using [Reanimate] spell connected to Noe Clerico’s mana pool then checked for the battle-ax on his left hand and looked at the shield on his right hand while talking to himself, “Living isn’t a concern, and dying isn’t a matter for me anymore, it is awesome to be immortal. There is no way I alone could hold an entire Demon Army of the First Gate by myself during my time of living as a mortal. Since I gained the ability to be indestructible after becoming a minion serving Master Noe Clerico, no demon army or Demon Lord can defeat me. I, Stefano Auregli, will never perceive the definition of losing ever again!”

Hearing Stefano’s voice, Sizouze recognized his location and immediately casted three [Flaming Phoenix] spells toward him. Stefano didn’t want to waste his master’s mana pool by keeping on reviving himself when not needed. He activated the [Black Wall] ability while slamming his shield on the ground. The shield then released a black aura, much darker compared to the dark aura released by Stefano’s [Darkness Flood] ability earlier. Repeated explosions caused by Sizouze’s [Flaming Phoenix] spells could be heard from miles away signaling the Flaming Phoenix resurrected themselves to try again and again because they failed to trigger explosions on the targeted enemy. Two minutes later, the duration for Sizouze’s [Flaming Phoenix] spells has expired.

Stefano then activated [Siphon Strike] ability and struck his battle-ax into the air, creating a black hole that continuously sucked Sizouze from the sky down toward the ground. Sizouze didn’t show any sign of fear, she started chanting for one of her Saint-tier Fire Magic spells while scanning for Stefano’s weak points planning on how to instantly kill him using the combination of her greatsword and the Saint-tier Fire Magic spell.

In the audience area, Emperor Acilianus couldn’t control his anger when he saw Stefano Auregli dominating the battlefield holding back the Demon Army of the First Gate and their Demon Lord, Sizouze, all by himself.

Knowing how angry Lucius became, Ateia softly whispered, “Emperor, please calm down.”

Lucius breathed out heavily then stated, “Damn you, Noe Clerico! How could you dare to turn the best warrior of my nation to be your minion? Ateia, how can you ask me to calm down? We sent Stefano to the Bifjorkian Theocracy as a messenger, not a fighter. How dare Noe Clerico kill him?”

“My Emperor, please stay calm. Now isn’t the time to be angry.”

“I was wondering where Stefano vanished to, who could have thought he had become a minion of Noe Clerico? Noe once asked me to become his minion and I refused but he just laughed and flew away. Ateia, do you think Stefano is stupid enough to accept such a crazy invitation?”

“I don’t think so, dear my Emperor. Noe Clerico must have killed and forcefully turned Stefano into one of his minions after seeing his great battle skills.”

“Ateia, sending Stefano Auregli to Bifjorkian Theocracy was your idea.” Lucius angrily stared at Ateia when he was saying this.

“My calculation was wrong, dear my Emperor. I thought sending such a powerful warrior would scare the Bifjorkian Theocracy into thinking twice before daring to assist other nations to fight back our invasion. I’m very sorry.” Ateia shakingly answered.

Grinding his teeth for a few seconds, Lucius shook his head and said, “Forget it. Blaming you wouldn’t bring Stefano back to our Empire.” Lucius then sighed heavily to calm himself down before continuing watching the battle.